We are blessed to welcome Pastor Geoff Kohler and his wife Beckie to RB Community. Pastor Geoff brings over 30 years of ministry experience, 10 of which have been in interim Pastor roles for churches ranging in size from 130 to 2500 members. Most recently Pastor Geoff served as an Interim Pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Golden, CO where he successfully helped guide the congregation through transition and extending a call to a full time Pastor, who will be starting in June. Previously, Pastor Geoff served as the Lead Pastor for an 800-member congregation at First Presbyterian Church in Lancaster, PA for 7 years. He has held permanent and interim roles for churches in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Colorado where he has been called to help churches in transition and in some cases, that involved leading and growing contemporary worship, a broader mission focus and new youth ministry programs. Pastor Geoff grew up in New York and received his master of arts degree in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, CA), a master of divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary and a doctorate in ministry from Drew University. The couple has three adult children and are blessed with grandkids living nearby in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara.
The following is Pastor Kohler's Personal Statement Of Faith:
I believe in God who created, nurtured, loved, saved and continues to seek after the full redemption of our planet and people. I believe that as Creator, God brought everything into existence. I am not worried about how he did this and do not find any issue between the discoveries of science and the description of beginnings in the Bible. The plain truth of God’s creative act speaks deeply to me of God’s sovereignty and that God can do anything in any manner God decides.
I believe in Jesus, the Son and the fullest expression of God in the history of our planet. Jesus lived an authentically human life woven of its meanest and most magnificent elements. Fully God and fully human, Jesus came to teach us how to live and became the lesson in his death on the cross, giving his life for his friends. Jesus is our dearest friend and he lived out the truth of what he preached and returned to life, touchable and knowable, demonstrating the proof of what he taught.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the present reality of God in life now. Comforter, Counselor and Guide, the Spirit calls every person on the planet to the truth of Jesus, seeking to draw them into relationship with the God of grace. The Spirit convicts us of our sin, convinces us of our need for redemption and assures us of the Hope that will not disappoint.
I was called into faith through a loving family, my father’s particular example of faithfulness and the work of the church. As a boy I heard the message of the Gospel in camps, in worship, in Sunday School and in my home. It made sense, but it did not become fully my own until my senior year of high school. My family went through a tumultuous series of years while I moved through junior high and high school and I became emotionally bewildered by it all. As a senior I was moved to surrender to God completely, recognizing that I had nothing to offer but surrender. I was altered by the encounter, so changed that, when I returned to school, students I did not know stopped me to ask what had happened to me.
I know that Jesus is alive and actively engaged through the work of the Spirit to draw all people into relationship with God.I trust the Bible is true. I believe in the work of Church as Christ’s Body, his hands, feet and heart. I believe in the leadership of the Holy Spirit as a daily conversation with believers. And, I believe that I am, like all Christ-followers, sent to serve, love and explore.